Kuanyama
Kwanyama (Portuguese: Cuanhama) is a national language of Angola and Namibia. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Oshindonga, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form. The entire Christian Bible has been translated into Kwanyama and was first published in 1974 under the name Ombibeli by the South African Bible Society. Jehovah's Witnesses released a translation of the new testament, the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Kwanyama in 2019, both printed and electronic online version.
Translate in Kuanyama ↗Kwanyama (Portuguese: Cuanhama) is a national language of Angola and Namibia. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Oshindonga, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form. The entire Christian Bible has been translated into Kwanyama and was first published in 1974 under the name Ombibeli by the South African Bible Society. Jehovah's Witnesses released a translation of the new testament, the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Kwanyama in 2019, both printed and electronic online version.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Present-day use
The captured source does not contain a separate current-use account.
Origins
The captured article does not contain a separate origins section. See the historical account and linked source.
Development
The captured article does not contain a distinct historical account. No chronology has been invented.
Writing
Latin or customary script (catalog classification; see the source for context).
Beyond the typeface.
Signs, manuscripts, published pages and contextual photographs, with their place, period, source and reuse terms. Captions identify historical spellings, regional examples, community references and character imagery.
Historical printed prayer headed “KUANYAMA” in The Lord’s Prayer in Five Hundred Languages, printed page 85. The Commons record dates the compilation to 1905; this copy also contains a publisher note dated June 1908. Orthography and translation reflect the historical source, not a modern usage standard. Other languages appear on the same page. The source includes period terminology and editorial annotations; these are historical evidence, not Babelbook’s current terminology or claims.
Saved in Babelbook · resized display copy. Select the image to open it independently of its source.
Reinhold Rost (compiler); Gilbert & Rivington / Wm. Clowes & Sons (publishers); Internet Archive scan · Source ↗Public domain ↗View the local visual field note
Representative reference points from Glottolog. Historical entries show reference locations, not current speakers. 1 point.
Reference & context ↗Babelbook · original editorial illustration · CC BY 4.0 · Glottolog locations; public-domain Natural Earth land
Source excerpts, selected, shortened and where noted editorially corrected from Kwanyama by Wikipedia contributors. Retrieved 2026-10-05. CC BY-SA 4.0. These excerpts are not an independently verified scholarly history; missing accounts are identified above.